How to Take a Next-Level Food Photo, According to the Visionary Behind Chef's Table

In 2011, David Gelb made one of the most alluring, seductive movies of the year. It was a documentary starring raw tuna, rice, and an 85-year-old Japanese man. It was Jiro Dreams of Sushi—partially a story about Jiro Ono, the greatest living sushi chef and his quest for perfection, and partially a story about just how lovingly a movie camera can caress a juicy morsel of raw seafood.

If there's anybody who knows the mysterious power of beautiful cuisine, it's Gelb—and in 2015, he transformed the Jiro format into the Netflix documentary series Chef's Table, which won the International Documentary Association's Best Episodic Series award and was nominated for an Emmy. In one-hour segments (which Gelb executive produces and sometimes directs), Chef's Table peeks into the lives of visionary chefs from around the world, from Patagonia to Eastern Europe to Thailand to Los Angeles, spending time in their restaurants, kitchens, neighborhoods, and homes. Let's just say it's recommended viewing for everyone except those with an empty stomach or a propensity toward impulse vacations.

The second season of Chef's Table (which features chefs like Dominique Crenn of Atelier Crenn, Brazilian chef Alex Atala, and Grant Achatz of Chicago's Alinea)is available to watch on Netflix today. So I spoke with Gelb about season two's most mouth-watering dishes, the time he ate ants in Brazil, and, of course, how to take your best food Instagrams.

The opening sequence of this season is just spectacular. Do you have a favorite shot or a favorite dish that's in it?
The image that really stood out for me is the shot of the Grant Achatz dish that we kind of linger on; from a top-down view, you see that there are these little flowers coming out, and smoke. I just think that's an incredibly arresting image.

And there's another shot of baby corn served inside a gourd! That's from Enrique Olvera's restaurant, and he lifts off the top and this smoke comes out with this delicious-looking baby corn. Which is actually dipped in an ant mayo.

Which one was the most difficult to capture?
Dishes served in bowls require the most work to see. Our eye level is only so high, so you have to raise the camera into an overhead position to see what's inside. Anytime we're looking straight down into a dish or onto a table, that's a special shot that requires some extra time.

"As soon as we finish the shot, a dozen spoons suddenly reach into the frame."

What we all love about Chef's Table, and about Jiro a few years ago, are these gorgeous close-up shots of food being made, or food being plated. What kind of direction do you give chefs when they're on camera?
All the directors and cinematographers on the show are very hungry. We all love to eat. So we shoot in a way that tries to evoke what excites us about the food. Usually that involves shooting upward from the position you might be sitting in at a table—that's an angle an audience member can really identify with. Another secret is shallow focus, putting one part of the frame in sharp focus and the rest sort of blurs out behind it.

We also shoot on Red Dragon cameras, some of the finest digital cameras you can get, and we light each dish depending on what we think suits it—usually very soft light, because if there are hard shadows or the reflection of a light off the plate behind it, you don't want that. But the real secret, if there is one, is that we're shooting chefs who make incredibly beautiful food. We're not magicians—I can't make a McDonalds hamburger look as good as something you'd see on the show.

One of the sequences that's just breathtaking this season is the montage at the end of the Enrique Olvera episode—all those colors and textures, clipping along to classical music. Tell me what it's like to film something like that.
We call that our "food symphony," inspired by a scene in Jiro Dreams of Sushi where [the famed food critic] Masuhiro Yamamoto talked about Jiro's tasting courses like a concerto. We have a day that we dedicate on our schedule to awesomely lighting and shooting the dishes. And it's a chance for the entire crew to get the taste the food. As soon as we finish the shot, a dozen spoons suddenly reach into the frame.

Over and over again, for a whole day.
Yeah. We get to spend a day doing the "food beauty," as we call it. It's a lot like a party.

So, you're someone who's built a solid career in making food look amazing on camera. What pointers would you give to someone who just really wants to take gorgeous Instagrams of what they cook?
Well, try to make sure your white-balance doesn't make the image look orange. I see a lot of food images that have this kind of orange cast to them; that just looks kind of gross. If you have a white plate under it, make sure that white is coming through as a pure white. But the thing that really separates great food photography from not-so-great is really more about what you're photographing. Save your food Instagram for something really special.

Is it important to use a white plate?
Not necessarily; a lot of chefs choose their plates according to what colors the dish is. Especially if the food itself is white, you'd want a darker plate to show some contrast.

Netflix has ten more Chef's Table episodes slated for release after the six that launched today. The next four installments, which debut in the fall, all take place in France.

I feel like things look tastier in tiny portions a lot of the time, too.
Yeah. There's something to be said for the one precious morsel. The perfect bite that's already assembled and all you'd have to do is pop it in your mouth. But not always! In future seasons, for example—breaking the mold a bit—we have Ivan Orkin, who's a ramen chef in New York. His meal is a single bowl. So that's been an interesting challenge.

Are there dishes you've tried on the set of Chef's Table that took you by surprise?
Ants, at Alex Atala's restaurant. The first time Alex Atala ate ants, he asked what sauce the ants were cooked in; he kept wondering, How do you guys have lemongrass and ginger out here in the Amazon?! And all that flavor is actually just in the ants. The ants themselves have this incredible taste of lemongrass. So when I actually got to taste it personally it completely blew my mind. I'd never eaten an ant before. Never really wanted to. And I can say that I'm a fan.

Have you continued to eat ants since you wrapped?
[Laughs] No, no. I only want to eat Alex's ants. And Enrique Olivera's—he cooks ants too. But yeah, no, they don't recommend that you just go plucking ants off the ground in the middle of America. You want ants that have eaten a good diet. You don't want to eat your average street ant.